Following the team with a unique perspective on all things Phillies.Email me: PhilliesPhollowers@comcast.net – Peace, Love & Baseball – Jenn

Results tagged ‘ Phillippe Aumont ’

After watching Cliff Lee walk off the mound last night in pain with another elbow injury, I was pretty depressed. I was depressed earlier in the day after the Phillies did absolutely nothing at the trade deadline. But this was a whole new level of sadness. Because at that moment, I realized something; watching Phillies baseball just isn’t fun anymore.

Baseball is supposed to be fun. Remember when Roy Halladay said, “It’s only gonna get funner”? Ah, memories… Because where did all the fun go? Even when the Phillies sucked back in the early 1990’ and early 2000’s, it was still fun to watch. And on those teams, the players had fun playing, even when they were awful. Remember in 2003 when a bunch of players dyed their hair bleach blonde? They sucked…but it was fun! I still had a good time going to those games. But now, it feels like going to a funeral. So why is it so different now?

I have come up with two reasons: 1) There was hope back then. 2) The 2008 World Series changed the landscape of Phillies baseball.

Phillies fans have lost hope. Why? Because the current incarnation of this team and their management have made the same mistakes over and over and over. They refuse to make big changes and when they do make changes, the results are bad. Go back to the Cliff Lee trade. You know what the Phillies got for him…nothing. Ok, count Phillippe Aumont if you must, but he is a head case who is going nowhere. They traded Hunter Pence and got nothing. Here are a few other not-so-fun names to remember…Freddie Garcia, Adam Eaton, the contracts of Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon and others, no trade clauses, etc. And the list goes on…

When you do the same thing repeatedly, how can you expect different results? You can’t. And therein lays the total lack of hope. As long as the same people are in charge and the same scouts are making bad decisions, nothing will change. And that is truly depressing.

And about that 2008 World Series…the Phillies have been on a steady decline since they lost the series in 2009. Phillies fans got a short taste of success and now, we expect it. Maybe that is not fair, but such is life.

Frankly, the way they Phillies have raised ticket prices every year and cancelled events (like the Phan Fest at Spring Training), giving us less access to players, is also a sore spot for fans. If you are going to take away some of my season ticket holder benefits, charge me more and give me less, then I EXPECT a superior product. And in that way, I feel fans are justified in their rage. Now that the team is awful, do you think ticket prices will go down? No way…because they have to PAY for all of their mistakes and ridiculous contracts. Or should I say, we the fans will pay? Or we will just stop coming to games as many have done already.

Because why should I have to pay to attend a funeral? Why should I pay to see players who are just as depressed as I am? And there you have it…NO FUN.

If the Phillies want to bring back the fun, they need to fire everyone in the front office and all of the scouts and start over. Give us something to look forward to. Give us a little hope. It is either that, or prepare to play to an empty stadium.

I hate to state the obvious, but this Phillies team just plain sucks. This fact has been made plainly evident after the Phils lost 4 of 5 games to the Mets in spectacularly bad fashion. The secret is out. When I was at the game on Sunday, the only reason I did not hear crickets in the stands was because of all the Mets fans there.

I cannot think of a single strength on this team. The pitching is impossible to predict, the defense is awful, base running seems like a mystery to these guys and the offense is practically non-existent. Even the attitudes suck. Just in the last week, we have witnessed veteran players making mental mistakes, lazy play, especially in the outfield, and a lot of “that’s baseball” comments after games. This team seems to have accepted that they suck and that is exactly how they are playing; like a defeated group with no hope of recovery.

I do not think the Phillies stand a chance this year. Still, they need to make some moves to, at the very least, appease what fans they have left. First, send Domonic Brown to the minors and bring back Darin Ruf to play left field. Brown has been lazing about in left and needs a reality check. Ruf deserves a shot. It doesn’t matter that his defense is not great because, really, where is this team going anyway? Nowhere. So give this guy some playing time.

Please send Phillippe Aumont back to the minors. Or better yet, give him away to another team for free. He does nothing but walk guys and give up home runs; last night’s grand slam was the final straw for me.

There are many other moves I would like to see, but some are just not possible. I still hear chants of “trade Ryan Howard.” To those people I say, good luck with that. No team would want him with his salary. I’d like to see the Phillies play a centerfielder better than Ben Revere, but who exactly would that be?

There are a few guys in the minors that may help at some point (Ken Giles, Maikel Franko), but why bring them up before they are ready? The team will still suck either way. And you then risk exposing them to what appears to be a negative clubhouse environment where older players are setting very bad examples for younger ones. Do you really want Franco to learn how to play with a total lack of urgency and swing at every pitch regardless of circumstance or location? How about teaching him to get thrown out on the base paths? If this is what you want him to learn, bring him up!

The last thing I’d like to see…fire Ruben Amaro Jr., his staff and all the scouts and START OVER. This team needs a serious reboot with a NEW approach to the draft and scouting. The same old, outdated approach has run this team into the ground. They need to start pouring sabermetrics on top of their traditional scouting cereal for breakfast and get with the times. I am not discounting traditional scouting nor touting sabermetrics as the savior, but a nice combination could maybe get things going in the right direction. And frankly, what do the Phillies have to lose?

On Friday and Saturday, the Phillies and Mets played 14 innings each day. When the Phillies did not score on Sunday in the bottom of the 9th, groans could be heard all over the ballpark. Three days in a row of extra baseball from two teams that are battling it out for last place…what could be more exciting? A lot of things, apparently.

The tone was different before the game started. It was a total love-fest, despite 2 days and 28 innings already played.

And with Cole Hamels pitching, there had to be hope for the Phillies.

Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer in the 4th inning to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. But it was all downhill from there. The Phillies played sloppy ball in every way possible. There were a few nice plays in the field, but also some missed opportunities.

And the offense barely made Mets pitcher Jonathan Niese even break a sweat. It took him only 13 pitches to go through the first 2 innings as the Phillies were swinging at everything and either popping it up or dropping weak ground balls.

The worst play was in the 7th when, after a huge single to put a runner on 3rd base with 1 out, Domonic Brown got himself thrown out trying to reach second base. Ben Revere then grounded out, leaving the winning run on 3rd base.

The bullpen was holding steady at least. The Phillies made a bunch of moves before the game to find fresh arms as all these extra-long games had depleted the pen. Jeff Manship went on the DL after hurting his quad in Saturday’s marathon game. Phillippe Aumont and Cesar Jimenez were called up while Darin Ruf went back down to Triple-A to make room. Jimenez pitched a scoreless 8th inning while Jonathan Papelbon did the same in the 9th.

But when they finally got to the 11th and put in Aumont, that was pretty much the end of the game as he gave up a walk and then a 2-run homer to the Mets. Aumont has been a head case from Day 1; he has been up and down to the majors a few times in the past 2 years and staff have complained that he does not take direction well. In addition, he cannot throw strikes and this year, had walked nearly a batter every inning in Triple-A. If this is the best guy the Phillies had in the minors to bring up, this organization is in deep trouble.

The Phillies will now lose this series to the Mets even with 1 game remaining and they are 6 games below .500, the worst mark of the season. Things are not looking very good, to put it mildly.

Here is the full Photo Album from Sunday’s game. The final game with the Mets starts at 7:05pm on Monday.

The Phillies looked like a shell of a team last night against the Miami Marlins, who are possibly the worst team in all of baseball. Leave it to the Phillies to make them look like All-Stars. Ugh.

When Domonic Brown smacked a home run in the second innings, it looked like the Phils might have carried over some momentum from Sunday’s dramatic walk-off win. But that was the end of the momentum and the beginning of Spit-Gate.

Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia entered Monday’s game with a dismal 5.00 ERA and a 2-6 record. After the Brown homer, Sanabia apparently thought some cheating was in order. He was caught on camera spitting on the ball and did not make any attempt to hide it.

First of all, this is just gross. It is also against MLB rules. But did it really affect the Phillies hitters? Probably not too much…they have basically sucked all season long. However, it did add insult to injury in this very unsettling loss.

Even Cole Hamels could not hide his emotions as he slammed his glove around on the Phillies bench after his outing. And after the game, he did not speak to reporters. I believe Hamels is feeling the same frustration we all are; specifically, WHY can’t this team score runs?! Poor Hamels is now 1-7 on the season. Last year, he had 6 losses for the entire season…already this year, not even half way through the season, he has that total beat.

Two runs allowed in 6 innings should get you a win…unless you are on the Phillies, apparently. Making matters worse, this team is now riddled with injuries. Carlos Ruiz came back after his suspension to play only 16 games before being put on the DL with a strained hamstring. Mike Adams is on the DL with a bad back. John Lannan is still on the DL with no expected return date being reported. And now Ryan Howard has sat out 2 games in a row with a sore knee and possible a torn meniscus.

And at least half of the bullpen may as well be injured; they might actually pitch better. Because our healthy pen cannot stop runs from scoring. Phillippe Aumont gave up 2 more runs last night and has a 4.15 ERA, plus many inherited runners have scored on him. Pretty much everyone in the pen is guilty of that too. And check out some of the other ERA’s: Chad Durbin, 8.10; Jeremy Horst, 5.09; BJ Rosenberg, 20.25 (1 game). Yikes!

As all the crap keeps piling up on this team, it is going to be harder and harder for them to dig their way out of the heap. And I do not want to hear anyone else talk about how it is still early in the season. As far as I am concerned, it is never too early to play winning baseball. And thus far, this team has not shown they can do that.

The Phillies hosted two exhibition games this weekend, signaling the end of Spring Training and the start of the regular season on Monday. As they have the past several years, the Phillies planned a number of special events and surprises on Friday and Saturday.

Friday began with the On-Deck Reception, hosted by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. There were players signing autographs, several Q & A sessions with players and coaches, and an on-field introduction of the entire team:

I personally got autographs from Domonic Brown (and a photo as well), Erik Kratz, John Mayberry Jr. and Antonio Bastardo. This was my first time attending this particular event and it was well worth the effort. The only bummer of the day was I discovered that the autofocus on my very expensive camera had died :O( Ugh. So I apologize in advance for 2 days worth of so-so photos, as I had to use my mediocre eye sight to manually focus a very large lens.

The prior to the evenings game, players wandered around the stadium greeting fans and some stopped for photos. I had my picture taken with John Lannan, Antonio Bastardo, Humberto Quintero and hitting coach Wally Joyner.

Cliff Lee started the game that night and looked ready to go for the season. But his real highlight was helping Cole Hamels man the Phanatic’s hot dog shooter between innings:

To be honest, the game was rather boring, so the hot dog-interlude was a very welcome distraction. The Phils lost 1-0.

More fun was happening prior to Saturday’s game as well. After some very stealth stalking on my part, I managed to get photos with a few new guys and a Hall of Famer: Mike Adams, Ender Inciarte and third-base-coach/HOF guy, Ryne Sandburg. That was pretty awesome. Both exhibitions games were well worth the trip because of these little extras.

The game itself, however, did not go well against a very potent Blue Jays line-up. The Jays beat up on Kyle Kendrick, who gave up 5 runs in 3 innings. John Lannan took over for the next 3 innings and held the Jays to 1more run. It was not quite out of reach for the Phillies though until very late. Here are a few highlights:

And Cliff Lee finally got his turn at the helm of the hot dog cannon, with Hamels “feeding” the device:

The end result was a 10-4 loss. But luckily, the game did not count.

The Phillies announced the Opening Day roster afterwards. There were not too many surprises there:

Inciarte is a Rule-5 guy; they have to keep him on the roster or offer him back to the D-backs. Only 22-years old, he has never played above High-A level. He offers some depth in the outfield for now. Plus, he is adorable, so I approve ;o)

So here we are, finally! Opening Day! Game time is 7:10pm Monday night in Atlanta.

The torture that was the 2012 Phillies season is finally over. And sadly, it ended just as I predicted before the season even began; without a playoff bid. I was hoping to be wrong about that.

Since the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, each year they have taken exactly one step backwards. So this year, missing the playoffs seemed like their destiny. They lost the World Series in 2009; lost the NL Championship Series in 2010; lost the NL Division Series in 2011; and now, the next logical step has arrived. The Phillies will go home early without even a sniff at a post-season run.

Remember happy days like these?:

For now, they are gone :O(

The first casualties of the 2012 disaster are already accounted for. Bench coach Pete Mackanin, hitting coach Greg Gross and first base coach Sam Perlozzo have all been given their walking papers. More fallout is probably on the horizon, but it will probably involve players, not coaches.

So who else should stay and who should go? Here are some thoughts, starting with the offense:

In 195 at-bats, Kevin Frandsen hit .338, which led the team. And for an entire month, he played with a stress fracture in his leg, yet he still kept hitting. I say put him at 3rd base and get a back-up in case of injuries.

If the Phillies do not re-sign Juan Pierre, they are insane. He hit .307 in 394 at-bats, led the team in stolen bases with 37 and he is the best bunter you can find anywhere.

Bring Shane Victorino back! After a depressing second half with the Dodgers, his price will go down, possibly to the point where the Phillies can afford to resign him. John Mayberry Jr. and Domonic Brown can platoon and then the Phils need another outfielder or two.

Needs to Go: Nate Schierholtz, Ty Wigginton, Michael Martinez. Martinez is good defensively, but hit only .174 in 115 at-bats. They can find a better utility guy. And we are stuck with Laynce Nix for one more year unless someone is willing to trade for him…not likely.

Back-up Catcher: In – Erik Kratz; Out – Brian Schneider.

Relief Pitching: Jonathan Papelbon stays and probably Antonio Bastardo. I will also put in votes for Jeremy Horst and Phillipe Aumont. The maybes are Jake Diekman and Justin DeFratus, although DeFratus needs to be 100% healthy, which I feel is still in question. Michael Stutes may return, but no one is sure in what condition.

Please Go Away: Josh Lindblom – trade him (if anyone wants him). He has been awful. This team needs some veteran help in the pen.

And of course, all the usual suspects, like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, etc… will be back. But will they be healthy? That is the looming question.

To give an idea of how badly the injuries hurt the team this year, consider this: I may be missing some, but by looking at the team stats, at least 49 different players made an appearance for the Phillies this year, rotating in and out of the 25-man roster. Also, only 2 players of those 49 reached 400 or more at-bats; Rollins (632) and Mayberry (441). That is scary.

So the season is over and the healing (quite literally) shall begin. Do you have any thoughts you would like to share about this season? Feel free to leave comments below.

The Phillies topped the Reds on Monday afternoon by a score of 4-2 using a combination of rookies and just a dash of experience. In his second major league start, Tyler Cloyd walked away with the victory. Catcher Steven Lerud collected his first major league win behind the plate in his second appearance. And Phillippe Aumont, in his 4th major league game, got his first major league save.

The three youngsters received support from another rookie making his first game appearance in 2012, Justin De Fratus. De Fratus was expected to make the team out of spring training, but instead spent most of the year on the disabled list with a strained right flexor pronator tendon. In Monday’s win, De Fratus pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

The other main contributor in the game had a little more experience. Jimmy Rollins smashed a 3-run homer in the 5th inning, providing the rookies with much of the offense. John Mayberry Jr. added the fourth run with a solo shot in the 6th.

This turn of events left me wondering…how do the Reds feel about basically being beaten by a minor league team? Rollins helped, so I added him into “Our Gang” here as well (L-R Cloyd, Rollins, Lerud, Aumont):

If you don’t remember the above referenced TV show, clearly you are younger than I am so, congratulations on that ;o)

Besides watching the Phillies win with a bunch of rookies, the best part of this game was Cloyd’s grandmother, who was shown on camera numerous times, hands in the air, doing her grandma happy dance. It was off-the-charts adorable. You go, grandma!

Game 2 with the Reds starts at 7:10pm tonight. Kyle Kendrick will be looking for his 5th consecutive win.

It took a torrential downpour to start the game, 4 runs, 11 innings and 4 ½ hours, but the Phillies finally pulled off a win against the Reds for a series split. The win also vaulted them into 3rd place in the division. Imagine being happy about 3rd place back in April…this has been a crazy year.

One person who was not happy about the rain to start the game was Cole Hamels. He stated after the game, “We have these things called radar detectors and if you can’t read them correctly I don’t know what’s going on.” After getting into trouble and allowing a run in the 1st while it poured, Hamels was probably having bad flashbacks to Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. Officials did not call that game until after Hamels relinquished 2 runs to tie the game due in part to the sloppy field conditions.

But that game turned out pretty well, although not until several days later. The start of Thursday’s game was not delayed as it should have been, so his frustration is easy to understand. But the extra-inning affair also worked out in the end. Hamels went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs.

The offense had some issues as well. It looked like no one could hit Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto until the 6th inning when the Phils finally scored 2 runs. But once they got the game tied up at 3-3, things got every stranger.

The Phillies started getting on base, but there appear to be a brick wall at 3rd base that no one could pass. In both the 8th and 9th innings, the Phillies had the bases loaded with only 1 out and did not score. In the 9th Domonic Brown hit into a double play to end the inning, adding to the frustration. They left 2 men on base with 1 out in the 10th as well. In all, the Phillies stranded 16 runners and went only 4-14 with runners in scoring position.

Throughout those many irritating innings though, the bullpen did an excellent job of holding the Reds at bay. 5 pitchers went 5 scoreless innings, including Phillippe Aumont who made his major league debut. He tossed a scoreless 8th inning.

Aumont had been called up to replace Jeremy Horst who was on paternity leave. But Horst returned, and also pitched, last night. Aumont stayed and instead, Michael Schwimer was very quietly sent back to Triple-A. So it appears the Phillies will get a longer look at Aumont to see what he can do.

With the bullpen’s solid effort, the table was set yet again for the Phillies in the 11th inning. Finally, someone got a hit with the bases loaded. John Mayberry Jr. singled to left to score Chase Utley for the walk-off victory. After the game, Charlie Manuel expressed his frustration about all the previously stranded runners by saying, “I feel drained. Really. I kept waiting for somebody to come home.” Everyone laughed, which is certainly a lot easier when you have won the game.

And now the 1st place Nationals come to town. There is just something very wrong about that previous sentence…sigh. Game time tonight is 7:05pm.

The Phillies put a brutal 12-5 beating on the Cincinnati Reds last night. So where has this ball-pounding Phillies team been all year long? Oh that’s right; they have been on the disabled list. Sad.

In fact, let us take a look at the 2012 Phillies path to destruction:

That is a lot of injuries. But with Placido Polanco returning yesterday, the Phillies now have most of their starters back, although some of them from the beginning of the season went to other teams in trades. And guys like Domonic Brown and Juan Pierre are making this look like a real line-up once again.

Unfortunately, it is probably too little, too late.

Still, any victory is a happy one. And the Phillies stomping all over the Reds last night was certainly fun to watch. And everyone in the line-up contributed. John Mayberry Jr. is suddenly on fire; he had 3 hits, including a 2-run homer. Pierre also had 3 hits and 2 stolen bases. Everyone in the starting line-up had at least one hit, which has been rare this year.

Roy Halladay did not get a hit, and he did not pitch very well either. But it did not matter. The 5 runs he allowed were easily swept under the proverbial rug since the offense kept on scoring. They scored in every inning except the 2nd, so each run Halladay gave up did not seem like a big issue.

The Phillies will go at the Reds again tonight and they will have a new, interesting player on the staff for this one. Remember that awful Cliff Lee trade a few years back…well, one of the fruits of that goof-up is now on the roster. Phillippe Aumont will take Jeremy Horst’s place on the roster as Horst is now on paternity leave for 3 days.

Aumont has had issues. His control is not great and he is an emotional guy, easily rattled at times. He has posted a 4.26 ERA in Triple-A this year. I guess this is the Phillies way of throwing him into the fire to see if he burns. Best of luck to him! Game time is 7:05pm.

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